Pevkur: Allies must increase defense spending ahead of Hague Summit

On Tuesday, during a joint seminar in The Hague, the defense ministers of the three Baltic countries and the Netherlands discussed NATO's forward defense concept, preparations for the upcoming summit in The Hague, the Russian threat, and topics related to the Baltic Defense Line.
Following the seminar, a meeting was held between the defense ministers of the three Baltic countries and the Netherlands.
"The contributions of the Netherlands to European security and assistance to Ukraine in recent years have been significant and tangible. For example, their F-35 fighters are currently defending Baltic airspace from Ämari. We share a common understanding of the Russian threat, which, in turn, means that we see eye to eye on the need for capability development as we prepare for the next NATO Summit in The Hague," said Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform), who participated in the meeting.
"In all discussions, we ultimately reach the conclusion that both to defend ourselves and to support Ukraine, allies need to increase their defense spending. At The Hague Summit, one of the main topics will undoubtedly be raising defense expenditures to a more ambitious level. The Baltic countries have already raised their spending, and now we must work together to make this understanding clearer among all allies," Pevkur added.
The participants in the seminar included Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur, Latvian Minister of Defense Andris Sprūds, Lithuanian Minister of Defense Dovilė Šakalienė, and Dutch Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans.
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Editor: Michael Cole